Raphael’s School of Athens: Greek Philosophy in the Italian Renaissance

Scuola di Atene Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, the Italian Renaissance artist, Raphael (1483–1520),

Sanzio Raffaello (1483/ 1520),

is the most influential painter of the Italian Renaissance; painted between 1509 and 1511

The School of Athens represents all the greatest mathematicians, philosophers and scientists from classical antiquity gathered together sharing their ideas and learning from each other. These figures all lived at different times, but here they are gathered together under one roof. Together they represent the harmony of Athens, Rome and Jerusalem that is at the heart of Christian civilisation. Individually they represent Jurisprudence, Philosophy, Poetry and Theology as the summits of human learning, knowledge and wisdom. Its scale is monumental:

Dimensions	5 m × 8 m

Raphael’s self-portrait at centre, c.1512 detail, Raphael, as one of the Swiss Guard in the lower right of the fresco, facing out with bound-up hair. Look at the velvet fabrics, hairstyle like mine or us of the 1970's rock music era.

1510 Raffaello The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament. Raphael has created a scene spanning both heaven and earth. It was painted between 1509 and 1510 as the first part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms that are now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. The Stanza della Segnatura was the first of these rooms to be completed; this and the Stanza di Eliodoro are the only ones that Raphael himself painted. After 1512 he was simply too busy to work on all of his commissions by himself. ‘The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament’ is less well known and less widely discussed than the other two grand compositions in the room, Parnassus (representing Poetry, and also Music), and the picture that has been known since the 17th century as The School of Athens.